Role
Narrative Designer
Tools
Notion, Highland 2, Adobe Suite
Deliverable
Opening cutscene script + Found Narrative + Boss Barks + Character Briefs + Setting Briefs + Quest Design + Narrative Systems​
Duration
Three months
Core Responsibilities
Constructed narrative premise, developed narrative design document.
-
Mapped the story beats
-
Wrote character and setting briefs for each location in the world
-
Developed factions for each setting, outlining their qualities and goals
-
Wrote an opening cutscene
-
Drafted and formatted a spreadsheet with character codes and boss barks for a boss fight
-
Crafted a narrative history for the world
Highlight
Crafting the world of Concrete Sky was an immense challenge due to the intended scope of lore and culture built into the environment and its inhabitants. A piece of the assignment was developing an opening cutscene that would not only communicate the premise of the game but also introduce the player character and the opening gameplay sequence. Further, we were limited to three pages for the cutscene.
This was my first attempt at writing a cutscene for a video game. My aim was to communicate the feel of the environment, hint at a few mechanics, and pull in the history of the world whenever possible. Using Baubacar, a significant NPC in Concrete Sky, I was able to expand on the tone of the game and its characters early on.
Design
In Concrete Sky, the core mechanic is the ability of the player character to strip, store, and transfer mechanical energy from one source to another. Additionally, gameplay would focus heavily on how smoothly players can navigate the landscape with parkour-like motion. Considering the idea of that sort of gameplay, I wrote a world that feels like an industrial jungle gym.
I also wanted the 14-year-old player character's jubilance to clash with the more dreadful imagery of a city on its last legs. Despite that clash of tone, the city should feel like the player's playground thematically.
Read through the full design document below!